“To take on triple-A it now takes a 500-plus team. To make it economical you need to be live, you need to port across all platforms from day one and you need to have multiple languages.”
back again and again.” He cites the obvious, such as the sustained popularity of mobile platforms and the growth of games-as-a-service pushing the need for more reliable live ops services: “You need to have solutions where the player doesn’t necessarily need to leave the game to be able to be served right away, and then you need the right concierge behind to really help them as a VIP. I would say that’s a big one for us.” Another big push that Bodson is behind has come as a
CREATE, GLOBALISE, ENGAGE
Keywords’ full-service portfolio is divided across three divisions, roughly covering the life-cycle of a game’s development. First there is the Create division, which numbers approximately 3,500 individuals and encompasses game development, engineering, tools and art. With more than 25 studios in the Create division and growing, it’s an area in which Keywords is strong and which seems likely to expand as new studios join the fold.
Next is the Globalise division, which offers testing, QA and localisation services across 40 languages. Finally there is the Engage division, made up of player support, research and eight marketing studios and agencies, most of which are situated in LA and London and together are another of Keyword’s greatest assets. “We are very strong in terms of trailers, for example, cinematics and game engine,” says Bodson, “but we have areas like performance marketing, where we’ve only started to get working right now, and influencer marketing we really want to invest in and want to bring much more within player support.”
Grateful for the offering he’s inherited and confident that Keywords continues to offer a good mix of services across the board, Bodson has no room for complacency. “Gosh, yes, we have a lot of work to do to really bring it all together to get the best value for our clients, and how we can imagine more for them.”
result of his spending much of his first year visiting as many of Keywords Studios’ clients and partners as possible, discovering that “to take on triple-A it now takes a 500-plus team. To make it economical you need to be live, you need to port across all platforms from day one and you need to have multiple languages.” In turn, says Bodson, companies have to ask themselves difficult questions; about the resources they have, whether they are in the right place and whether it might be better to seek out a partner better placed to get the game over the finish line - and beyond it if necessary. “It’s where QA and support comes quite naturally in. But equally importantly, on the development side, ‘How can I get access to engineers that can help me take on that demand?’ So that’s where we come in.” Of course it’s not just triple-A that excites Bodson.
The growth of indie games and indie publishing is also a trend he’s been keenly following, and is an area in which he sees Keywords building many new and lasting relationships. Teams that have a great deal of publishing experience and the funds to launch celebrated games, but that may need help taking their operation to the desired level along the full-length of the development process in order to establish their IPs. “It starts with gamedev, usually with creative or
technical artists, but I love the fact that very early on we can start a discussion about how we can help, and how we can keep enhancing the offering that we have to be on that journey [with a developer].” says Bodson. As well as it’s offerings to potential partners big
and small, Bodson is keen for Keywords to further embrace entertainment outside of games, now that game engines like Unity and Unreal have become essential tools, not just for game makers, but for those creating movies, TV and other forms of digitally- generated or enhanced content. “Personally, I’m excited about how much gaming is taking over the world of entertainment, how it is converging more and more” due to “a natural adjacency”. Bodson also sees opportunities in architecture and even in the realm of education and
14 | MCV/DEVELOP October/November 2022
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